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Reality be damned: iOS 7 wish list, continued

We received hundreds of comments and e-mails about what readers want for iOS.

Fantasizing about future iOS features is a pretty fun pastime, even if we know some of our wishes will take a while to come true. Last week, we published a list of features that the iOS-using Ars staff would like to see appear in the next major release of the operating system, and the reader reaction was huge. In addition to the dozens of e-mails still pouring into my inbox, the discussion thread of that article had nearly 400 (and counting) comments from readers about what they would like to see in iOS 7.

After going through as many comments and e-mails as humanly possible, we gathered together some of the best suggestions from the Ars readership. So read on to see what you told us were your most desired features for iOS, reality be damned:

Build upon Siri

A number of Ars readers like where Siri is going but want to see some improvements in order to make the virtual assistant more usable in everyday life. Ars reader iconmaster agreed with the staff's suggestion to allow third-party developers to access an API for Siri: "I use Siri all the time, but she could always do more. A third-party API would blow it right open of course; but even apart from that there is plenty for Apple to do."

Another reader going by the name martynpie feels that Apple could better handle situations where Siri can't get through the cell networks. "I want Siri to revert to the old voice control when it can't get decent 3G reception. If I'm driving, and I want to 'call Dave' I just get a long pause, then an apology because I work out in the sticks," martynpie wrote.

"An option for Maps to use the same Bluetooth audio connection that Siri and Phone do would be nice," added Dave Kauffman via e-mail. Kauffman explained that when his iPhone is paired with his car's audio system, the radio is automatically muted when he uses Siri. But when he asks for directions in Maps, the spoken directions are "only audible if I put my radio into Bluetooth Audio mode. I’d like to see the turn by turn directions mute my radio like the phone does and speak the directions. It would be more seamless. This may partly be just poor implementation of BT audio in my car's audio system but I’d think if they give an option to output audio the same way phone and Siri currently does, it would be more flexible."

Device settings on a per-app basis

A couple readers made a point of voicing their annoyance that iOS doesn't currently allow per-app settings changes for what might otherwise be considered universal settings.

"I would like to have different contrast on different applications," Ars reader Gaute said via e-mail. "Most of the time my phone is on almost lowest light setting as my eyes don't like the light. However when I'm [showing] a picture, which I frequently do, I have to first change the light setting and then back again. It pisses me off."

Another reader, Scott Andrews, echoed Gaute's sentiments. "One little thing I'd love to see is the ability to enable/disable spelling auto-correct on an app by app basis," Andrews wrote via e-mail. "I'm an amateur (wannabe) chef who uses a recipe manager and a to-do list app for grocery lists. There are a lot of culinary and ingredient terms that are not in iOS's dictionary and that these apps frustratingly try to auto-correct. I'd like to leave auto-correct turned on for mail and messages, but off for my recipe manager and to-do list. It's a little thing, but it would put an end to a major source of frustration."

Make good on that FaceTime promise

Some of you may remember when FaceTime was first introduced in 2010: then-CEO Steve Jobs claimed Apple would make FaceTime into an open, industry-wide standard. FaceTime is certainly based on some open standards, such as SIP for VoIP calls, H.264 and AAC for video and audio, and so on. But Apple has not published the specifications for FaceTime yet, and the service is still only supported on iOS devices and Macs running the FaceTime app. Many of you have mentioned this to us numerous times in the past, but Ars user pontavignon has had enough of it.

"Steve Jobs, when he announced FaceTime, promised that it would become a standard. Time to deliver," pontavignon wrote. "Include FaceTime in iTunes so it runs on Windows and OS X machines. Add Linux while you're at it. Make FaceTime available as an app on Android, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry, with use requiring an Apple ID."

"Upgrade FaceTime to permit calling in either voice or video modes, easily switching between either," pontavignon continued. "Allow the leaving of either voice or video messages in case of missed calls. Allow FaceTime to display inset videos, Keynote presentations, or Pages and Numbers files. Where permitted (like in the US and Canada) allow FaceTime to assign a mobile phone number so as to permit VOIP calls to landline phones and mobiles that don't have FaceTime on the receiving end."

He went on to point out that Skype (owned by Microsoft) is almost there, and Google Voice is also coming close (but has yet to go international). "The time is now to do what Jobs said and launch first, or prepare to settle for another 'me too,'" pontavignon said.

Make various parts of the UI easier to use

It should come as no surprise that there were numerous suggestions from the Ars readership on how to improve the iOS user interface.

Christopher Dildy suggested via e-mail that Apple finally adopt live icons for the appropriate apps. "I would like to look at the weather icon and see a preview of the weather with a glance. You could show a thunder cloud with lighting and the temperature of 68 degrees. The calendar app shows the day of the month, why can’t the clock app show the time (thinking about it now the time is at the top of the screen, but why not anyway?)" he wrote.

Dildy—and numerous others—also wanted the Notification Center buttons to be bigger. "Make the Notification Center more finger friendly. The X and Clear button are awfully small and run counter to the iOS usability guidelines," Dildy wrote. Commenter Lepton68 agreed: "It's a pain going through the notification list clearing them out. At least make that removal X bigger, as the UI guidelines say!"

Lepton68 pointed out that Notification Center could use a number of improvements, and not just to those tiny buttons. "Notifications need to be able to expire. In Settings, [under] notification settings for an app, add a setting that says to remove the notification after an hour, a day, a week, and so on. With many apps, notifications become moot after a while. How long does my weather app need to keep the notification that a storm is coming a week ago?" he asked.

And then there were those who just want to see more stuff in the Notification Center: "I would really like access to some of the settings in the Notification Center pull down instead of stock quotes. I would love Wi-Fi on/off and the brightness setting," gt40spec wrote.

But it's not all about Notification Center. "I wish they would add the ability to delete/clear multiple SMS conversations at once," an Ars reader going by Hytes wrote. "You've had the ability to do this forever in mail, why not for messages? I get tons of automated alerts from work and I hate having to clear them off one at a time."

Then there are those who want to see a better handling of common and open apps. "I would like a close all Apps option. Closing dozens of Apps one at a time isn’t very efficient," Dave Kauffman wrote via e-mail. "Also, give me a mode where it automatically moves my most used apps to the home screen for me," added Flawed.

Finally, marcusj0015 summarized the feeling experienced by millions of users who like to use their iPhones and iPod touches in landscape mode: "HORIZONTAL FUCKING SPRINGBOARD."

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui

Then there are those who want to see a better handling of common and open apps. "I would like a close all Apps option. Closing dozens of Apps one at a time isn’t very efficient," Dave Kauffman wrote via e-mail. "Also, give me a mode where it automatically moves my most used apps to the home screen for me," added Flawed.

Also an option: not mis-using the close app feature. That's only there for when a single app is misbehaving. Apps in the background aren't taking up memory or CPU time in the background unless iOS explicitly allows them to. Most of the apps in a long list aren't even running.

The only thing I would add would be a boost to the file size limit for apps. Currently, apps are limited to 2GB but with Apple releasing higher capacity devices (like the 128GB iPad), it would be nice if this got lifted to 4GB. I have several games on my iPad that brush up on the current limit and I know that their developers had to limit visual quality in order to stay under 2GB (lower quality images and videos for example in Riven for iPad).

I would love it if I could have quicker access to commonly used settings, (maybe in notification center?) where I can access airplane mode, brightness, maybe wi-fi settings.

Also I really really wouldn't mind a way to quickly close all apps running in the background. It gets annoying to tap on all of them after making them wiggle.

Also lets not forget revamping some of the stock apps. For one, the weather app is terribly outdated and works spottily at best. (It has trouble recognizing my location, and at times still thinks its yesterday). Either refresh that app or let me choose my own default weather app.

Wifi syncing has never properly worked for me. Fix that? The comments i get at the apple store 'have you considered upgrading to a Mac' aren't helpful. This computer needs to last me a bit before I can consider a new PC, regardless of operating system.

Finally I would love a way to move files regardless of filetype between my iOS devices and my PC. I think this is called airdrop functionality?

I think iOS 7 in general has got to be big. It can't just be 'playing catchup' with whtas out there. Right now iOS is just...good. If it does more of the same it will sink down to below average.

I wonder though if Forstall's departure left enough time for significant changes to be made? From what I understood he had good ideeas but trouble with the 'polish'.

The idea of being able to leave a Facetime video message if someone is unavailable is fantastic. It raises the issue of where the stored message would reside (on your device? On Apple's servers?) but it would be a really neat feature.

Regarding Facetime, I have one issue that should be fixable very easily. I have three devices that ring when I receive a Facetime call - iPad, iPhone, and Mac - and when I answer the call from one device, the other two indicate that I missed the call. Messages sent via iMessage are marked as read across all devices when viewed on any one of the three, so why doesn't Facetime receive a similar synchronization?

How about automatic updating of applications instead of always having to go to the app store to download them? Even better would be controlling the updating on a per application basis - that way only the ones you want constantly updated would be. They already got rid of the login prompt for downloading updates - it would eliminate one extra step.

Some hardware suggestions:* How about buying Leap Motion and integrating gestures across the board - desktops and phones both. Imagine waving over your phone to answer on speakerphone, advance tracks, or gesture control a slave device? Asus has jumped on, but I suspect won't be able to execute without control of the underlying OS.* Induction charging* 802.11ac

Software:* Windows live tiles are brilliant, Apple should completely up the size of icons, move the name into the icon and start going in that direction.* Passbook is far too limited, and needs a ton of work.* So does Newsstand and why is iBooks different than Newsstand to begin with?* Auto-updating of apps* Off-loading GPS calculations (recent MS patent)* Notifications suck - entirely redo them.

This article doesn't feel very reflective of the thread, I've got to be honest.

Did you think it would be "basicly people want Android"?

No, I just thought it wouldn't lead heavily with Siri changes which were a pretty minor thing in the thread. This feels like a summary of the first page and a half, rather than all ten pages.

I also expected the article to hit home on one thing - for a supposedly polished OS, there was a lot of good, common sense change suggestions. Clearly there is a big appetite for signifcant changes, and iOS's glacial updating doesn't seem to be addressing these.

Text editing/copy and paste refinement seems to be mentioned a heck of a lot more than several of these things.

How about automatic updating of applications instead of always having to go to the app store to download them? Even better would be controlling the updating on a per application basis - that way only the ones you want constantly updated would be. They already got rid of the login prompt for downloading updates - it would eliminate one extra step.

As a user setting that might be OK but as a default it will never happen because there are too many issues on mobile devices related to bandwidth, power and use setting to make this a practical consideration for most people, who rather not:

(a) Have the phone decide to use an expensive wireless connection to dowload when they would rather wait to use WiFi or broadband via a PC

(b) Run a power-intensive operation when they need to conserve power for normal use when outside

Never going to happen, but I would love to see a major graphic redesign. The current interface is ugly, cartoonish and entirely lacking a central design aesthetic. It has an awful colour palette and it's a big mess of gradients, shine effects and other such dated nonsense.

"An option for Maps to use the same Bluetooth audio connection that Siri and Phone do would be nice," added Dave Kauffman via e-mail. Kauffman explained that when his iPhone is paired with his car's audio system, the radio is automatically muted when he uses Siri. But when he asks for directions in Maps, the spoken directions are "only audible if I put my radio into Bluetooth Audio mode. I’d like to see the turn by turn directions mute my radio like the phone does and speak the directions. It would be more seamless. This may partly be just poor implementation of BT audio in my car's audio system but I’d think if they give an option to output audio the same way phone and Siri currently does, it would be more flexible."

This might not be an issue with Siri but moreso with the Audio Player in his car. Just because is has "some" bluetooth functionality does not mean it will have full blown ability. Whether the Car Maker tied it into the system at the same level as the rest OR the Audio device maker limitied things.

Quote:

"I would like to have different contrast on different applications," Ars reader Gaute said via e-mail. "Most of the time my phone is on almost lowest light setting as my eyes don't like the light. However when I'm [showing] a picture, which I frequently do, I have to first change the light setting and then back again. It pisses me off."

Standard Desktop Laptop Computers have never had this option. Surprised no one has complaioned about this in the 20± years that laptops have been available. This might need to be something that is added to the auto-detect mode - have it react not only to the surrounding light but also what is displayed on-screen.

Quote:

Some of you may remember when FaceTime was first introduced in 2010: then-CEO Steve Jobs claimed Apple would make FaceTime into an open, industry-wide standard. FaceTime is certainly based on some open standards, such as SIP for VoIP calls, H.264 and AAC for video and audio, and so on. But Apple has not published the specifications for FaceTime yet, and the service is still only supported on iOS devices and Macs running the FaceTime app. Many of you have mentioned this to us numerous times in the past, but Ars user pontavignon has had enough of it.

H.264 is not open-source -- not sure where you get your information from.

And AAC is open-source but has a Patent on it where software to produce original content in the format requires a license. And is also a part of the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 specs -- whcih are also not open-source.

Oh and yeah those pesky life-like buttons on the Calculator are just awful trying to mimic a real physical calculator.

Jacqui Cheng wrote:

Like most of us on staff, Ars readers share an ongoing concern about cellular data overages—especially since the slow-and-painful death of the unlimited data plan.

Where is this slow death you refer to ? The main thing about Unlimited plans (AT&T) is that they are not available anymore as an option. Millions of customers still have them. Many of us are not giving them up. The group is still a viable section of AT&Ts business and they should in fact cater to us.

Quote:

"When I travel, I have to go through 50 apps to turn them all off automatic updates and such to keep my bill from being crazy," Peter Drier said via e-mail. "There should be some system wide data mode that I could set to 'Minimal' or 'Low' that each app would see and stop updating automatically. Conversely, if the phone sees my home or work Wi-Fi, they should automatically go into 'unlimited mode, where NYTimes for example would know (or be set to) sync hourly WITH photos. No more than 4 modes, Low, Medium, High, Unlimited."

There is an option in Settings > General > Cellular to disable data. There is an option > Airplane Mode to also disable data. Remember to do it. There are also Alarms - REminders and DnD Settings that you can envoke to assist you if your memory isn't good.

(At least) AT&T will give you the option to modify your data plans if you forsee travel out of your coverage area (usually out of country) on a limited basis meaning you can switch and then switch back - to placate the expense (sans unlimited users).

There is also a WiFi switch you can turn on (which becomes first priority) that will pull you off the cellular service.

I do however agree that there should be an option to disable auto-martic updates. This option is available on the Desktop version of MacOS. I have about 5+ at any given time lingering in the App Store and apparently there is one hanging in Settings this morning as the 6.1 update has been pointed out to me by my phone. I don't give a damn if there is new software. I will check for and update when I feel like it. Wait until the bugs and flaws are pointed out.

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Indeed, it's 2013 and we iOS users still have no way to block calls or texts from certain phone numbers when they're coming directly to our iPhones. (This obviously doesn't apply if you use an additional call layer on top of your number, such as Google Voice, which does allow for call blocking.) How difficult would it be for the iOS team to add a setting that allows the user to set specific numbers to never ring?

Commenter invalidname thinks this could be incorporated into Apple's Do Not Disturb feature. "[O]n Do Not Disturb: why can we not block a specific number? My wife was getting spam calls from Jamaica at a rate of nearly one-a-minute at one point last year, and had no way to just automatically ignore that number."

I know for a fact that Verizon has an option for customers to login into their accounts online and add specific numbers toa blocklist. How this works in conjunction with iPhones - I do not know.

My complaint here would be that AT&T should have this as an option - not the phone and not Apple's responsibility. Going back to landlines (or even using Google Vocie as an example) both are the covered by the service provider so why do you think tah the manufacturer in Apple's case needs to be responsible for this ?

Back when I had landlines - with Uniden or Cobra or GTE phones - Bell South or Sprint or AT&T would provide number blocking - not the phone makers. Google is a service provider - so yes I expect this from them. This complaint of yours is misdirected.

And actually - if all you want is for a number to never ring - Apple could add a "None" option to the ringtones list - as they have with the 'text tone' and 'vibration' and 'alerts' and so on.

As for Jamaica - after about the 3rd call that is when you call your service provider and report the number(s).

Quote:

One way to handle this could be with AER's suggestion: "iCloud that works across apps (i.e., one app loads a file into iCloud, and another app can then edit it)."

The file formats would have to be compatible. Do not expect to have a native Photoshop Touch file open in Numbers and be able to edit it.

I'd like to see greater interoperability between apps. I have so many apps for playing music, and other apps that can record, and I'd love to be able to feed the instruments into the recording apps without having to pump the sound out through speakers.

Easily accessible brightness controls on the iPhone. This is already present on the iPad, and I want the same control on my iPhone.

More control over the Notes application. I'd like more controls over fonts and please - PLEASE - the ability to make bulleted lists!

I like that Guided Access can lock my child into a specific app and block certain buttons within the app. Now I want to have a full "playground" of apps that I specify that my child can play and switch between.

My nearly-2-year-old loves flipping around a few of his favorite apps and while he is surprisingly good at staying out of apps he's not supposed to get into, the opportunity is there.

I'd also like this Playground to allow settings specific to the Playground. So my teenager can have her own Playground that includes the Mail app that is loaded with HER email. When she gives me the iPad back I can switch back to normal "Parent" mode and my settings and email will show up, but I won't see my daughters.

I guess this plays into a Multi-user mode, which is something else I'd like to see. The ability to add multiple accounts and designate them as a Child or Parent account would be very beneficial to my family.

For each user account on the device you can use a Universal Apple ID or a specific Apple ID. This way my wife and I can preload a credit card with $$ for the kids without worrying about them going over the limits we put on that card. At the same time we don't have to worry about all of our content being erased when my wife and I use our Apple ID for purchases on the same device.

This brings up another idea: Instead of having to have a separate Apple ID for my children, I should be able to create a sub-account under my normal Apple ID that I can then set spending limits on. Then when a child is in their Playground mode and if the parent has enabled the Kids App Store (only shows kid-appropriate apps based on parental settings) then the children can purchase apps using that subordinate account. But the kids won't need a username and password as long as the parents have the master account signed in and the parental settings don't require a password. If the parents want to assign a password, then they can do that.

"When I travel, I have to go through 50 apps to turn them all off automatic updates and such to keep my bill from being crazy," Peter Drier said via e-mail. "There should be some system wide data mode that I could set to 'Minimal' or 'Low' that each app would see and stop updating automatically. Conversely, if the phone sees my home or work Wi-Fi, they should automatically go into 'unlimited mode, where NYTimes for example would know (or be set to) sync hourly WITH photos. No more than 4 modes, Low, Medium, High, Unlimited."

Well, there isn't a low-high paradigm (which would be hard to define and everyone would want it defined differently), but there is already a system-wide cellular data on/off switch (wish it was less clicks to reach it) that forces all data to WiFi only.

I would really appreciate a WiFi-only switch for Shared Photo Streams.

I wish the VOIP underlying FaceTime would always be available, so that iPhones without cell plans could still make phone calls over WiFi.

At my home, the AT&T coverage is absolutely horrible, but it would be nice to just jump over to VOIP and have a crystal clear conversation.

Also, I would very much like to see apps that control the Phone experience. I'd love to be able to block certain numbers from calls or text messages, or even assign a custom audio message to certain numbers. I'd love to block all toll free numbers and/or play a message that the phone has been disconnected.

The way I recall the iOS wishlist thread was that Apple users basically want Jellybean with an Apple logo to preserve their feelings of smug reassurance that they've "been on the right bandwagon all along."

The idea of being able to leave a Facetime video message if someone is unavailable is fantastic. It raises the issue of where the stored message would reside (on your device? On Apple's servers?) but it would be a really neat feature.

Regarding Facetime, I have one issue that should be fixable very easily. I have three devices that ring when I receive a Facetime call - iPad, iPhone, and Mac - and when I answer the call from one device, the other two indicate that I missed the call. Messages sent via iMessage are marked as read across all devices when viewed on any one of the three, so why doesn't Facetime receive a similar synchronization?

An even better synchronization option. It's annoying when my iPad and my phone both bloo-doo-doop and do a push notification when I get an iMessage. Especially since there is a slight time-lag between one device and the other receiving the message. Wouldn't it be nice if iMessage only triggered a notification on the last device you used with it?

And then it could reset after some minutes of inactivity to notify on all devices again before notifying on only the one you're by at the time.

I'd settle for just being able to toggle Wi-Fi on and off without digging through the settings.Come to think of it, some kind of functionality to make an icon out of any settings toggle would be nice. I know I could jail break but since AT&T started blocking tethering I haven't really bothered with it.

How about automatic updating of applications instead of always having to go to the app store to download them? Even better would be controlling the updating on a per application basis - that way only the ones you want constantly updated would be. They already got rid of the login prompt for downloading updates - it would eliminate one extra step.

As a user setting that might be OK but as a default it will never happen because there are too many issues on mobile devices related to bandwidth, power and use setting to make this a practical consideration for most people, who rather not:

(a) Have the phone decide to use an expensive wireless connection to dowload when they would rather wait to use WiFi or broadband via a PC

(b) Run a power-intensive operation when they need to conserve power for normal use when outside

(c) Interrupt use of the phone for an installation

Mac OS runs the software update tool periodically. iOS syncs whenever you plug it in now. So why not auto-update apps while charging?

I'd add another at the top of the list. Allow the GPS in an iPhone to share location data with an iPad (or a Mac) via Bluetooth. For many of us, it makes no sense to pay substantially more for a cellular-equipped iPad just to get the GPS.

Double tapping the home button should pop up a full screen interface, not just a task switcher. I'd actually like to see Spotlight incorporated on that screen (although I know some people simply can't double tap and that'd essentially hide Spotlight from those users). This wouldn't be a bad place for system shortcuts, since it's kind of power-user-y.

Notifications need a dismiss action. When the notification bar flips down, it's nearly impossible to click the back button or anything on the top toolbar.

The camera needs to be faster with HDR. I'd love if it simply saved the data and then rendered the HDR on a separate thread without blocking me from taking another picture.

I completely agree that the OS needs a better way of sharing data app-to-app, but I better not ever see a file manager. That's legacy garbage that has no place on a post-PC device. Also agree on expiring notifications and FaceTime requests -- I shouldn't spend as much time as I do performing administrative tasks on my devices.

I'd add another at the top of the list. Allow the GPS in an iPhone to share location data with an iPad (or a Mac) via Bluetooth. For many of us, it makes no sense to pay substantially more for a cellular-equipped iPad just to get the GPS.

Makes sense for Apple to have you buy the more expensive one, though, right?